Wednesday, 30 May 2007

I was reading the label on the Pret Cake Box the other day - it's a simple paper box with flowery prints. On the side it reads"Sorry about the ghastly paper wrapper. When you bake a cake at home, you take it out of he oven and cool it on a wire rack. Then you east a large slice (as a reward) and keep the rest in a flowery cake tun, like your Grandma used to!Think of this nasty wrapper as the cake tin. It's the only way we can keep the cake moist and delicious. As is often the case, the beauty is on the inside"There is a strip of greaseproof paper on top of the icing - it says, "Please peel off - greaseproof paper doesn't taste very nice!"Look at it from a Customer Experience perspective.

I was smiling even before I took the first bite. Infact, I was smiling when I was paying. There was a sticker on the cashier's till that said, "We need to charge a VAT when you eat in. Nightmare". A good Customer Experience begins even before your customer has 'used' your product.

The person who designed it thought about the joy & fun of eating a cake. They could have very well used "Please peel off before you eat", which would have made me frown (What do they think, I am dumb!).

The VAT Sticker, The copy on the Cake package helped me relate with the product.

The copy on the cake subtly reminded me of postive and happy memories. It's a very intelligent use of words to make your mind be receptive and positive.

Much of these flow from the kind of company they are trying to build. Take a look at the Franchising page

"Franchising – sorry we don’t. Please don’t call us and ask for a franchise because we don’t; we really don’t. We don’t franchise. The fact is, we don’t like to franchise, so we don’t."